On the thresholds of knowledge

  • Authors:
  • Douglas B. Lenat;Edward A. Feigenbaum

  • Affiliations:
  • MCC, Austin, TX;Computer Science Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

  • Venue:
  • IJCAI'87 Proceedings of the 10th international joint conference on Artificial intelligence - Volume 2
  • Year:
  • 1987

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Abstract

We articulate the three major findings of AI to date: (1) The Knowledge Principle: if a program is to perform a complex task well, it must know a great deal about the world in which it operates. (2) A plausible extension of that principle, called the Breadth Hypothesis: there are two additional abilities necessary for intelligent behavior in unexpected situations: falling back on increasingly general knowledge, and analogizing to specific but farflung knowledge. (3) AI as Empirical Inquiry: we must test our ideas experimentally, on large problems. Each of these three hypotheses proposes a particular threshold to cross, which leads to a qualitative change in emergent intelligence. Together, they determine a direction for future AI research.